Cannibals

Chapter 20

~~~ Marissa's P.O.V. ~~~

Caitlyn, Zachary, and I sat inside the 7-11 close to the quarantine gates waiting for Arianna to give us the "ok" to speak to the crowd. We took a megaphone and binoculars we found on a supply run once. As we waited for Arianna's signal we heard a voice coming from the crowd through what must be their own megaphone. The three of us crawled out to a nearby car and sat against it.

"We know there are some of you at that seven-eleven," the man said. "We want to get everyone inside the gates out. We're here to help you all."

I swear I knew that voice. But it was difficult to tell exactly through that megaphone. Zachary spoke to Arianna through the walkie-talkie. She told us to go ahead and reply. Caitlyn spoke to the crowd but stayed ducked behind the car.

"How do we know we can trust you," she asked.

"A lot of us have family that was trapped inside. Mostly trapped at the high schools. We want them with us. Especially now that the infection got out. There should be no reason that we should be separated from our families. We also saw the smoke and know we have to act now. To see what exactly is going on in there."

Caitlyn looked at me. Zachary told Arianna everything the man said. Arianna didn't say anything for a bit. Caitlyn turned the megaphone off.

Then she said, "he's giving us information. I think we can trust him."

"Yes," Arianna said through the walkie-talkie. "But I still want to know how willing they are to help us save Seth. They don't know what happened on the inside." She paused for a bit. "Ask if they have a leader."

Caitlyn turned the megaphone on and spoke. "Who exactly is in charge of your group? Is it you?"

"No," came the man's voice. "But the only way our leader will talk is if he speaks to the Captain."

"The Captain," Caitlyn asked. We all sat there, confused.

"Yes. He was in charge of taking care of the people inside the quarantine gates."

"Maybe he's the other guy working with Derc now," Arianna said through the walkie.

"Did you know of the people working under him," Caitlyn asked the man.

"We know he had two groups of men in charge of freeing the students from the high schools. For Deep Creek, it was a man by the name of Derc."

Zachary spoke to Arianna and Caitlyn and I shook our heads. These people had no idea what was happening inside. There were probably a lot of parents out there who had trusted Derc to save their children. Arianna gave Caitlyn her orders. I didn't like what was coming next. I didn't like the idea of putting our leader in danger. It's not that I didn't trust these people. But we still had no idea where Derc was hiding.

~~~ Arianna's P.O.V. ~~~

All the people who were at the gate only moments before were gone. I stood there with my crutches, waiting for their leader. That was our deal. Once Caitlyn told the man on the megaphone all that had happened, the man left to speak with their leader. When he came back he said their leader had agreed to speak to me. I knew that would be the case.

So I stood there, waiting. I got there a bit early. But I knew I wouldn't have to wait long. We agreed on meeting at 5 o'clock. I had five minutes left to wait. I thought about what I was going to say to this person. I had no idea what he might have to say to me. We did tell the man on the megaphone most of what happened. But we weren't sure exactly if the Captain was in fact working with Derc and we didn't exactly mention any names. Then my thoughts turned to my family outside.